“We hope that you will agree that Ford has succeeded in delivering the ultimate new police interceptor,” Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, said as he introduced the new car to a group of law enforcement officials in Las Vegas on Friday.

The new car even comes with “stab plates” to protect the driver and front-seat passenger. Police departments can order optional ballistic door panels.

“So you can see this is not a civilian product by any means,” Fields said.

The new Interceptor will be built on the same structure as the Ford Taurus sedan at the company’s Chicago assembly plant after production of the Crown Victoria ends in late 2011 at Ford’s St. Thomas, Ontario, plant, which is to close.

Ford also said it is developing a new SUV-based police vehicle. Ford said it will provide additional details about that vehicle by the end of September.

Ken Czubay, Ford’s vice president of U.S. sales and marketing, said Ford expects to maintain its market share in the police vehicle business even though competition is increasing.

Introduced in 1983, the Crown Victoria has long dominated police car sales and accounts for about 75% of the police car market with annual sales of 40,000 to 50,000.